WORLD DAY AGAINST CYBER CENSORSHIP UPDATES

So Much For That "Information Superhighway" Thing, Eh?

-While you were busy avoiding or plotting your clocks moving ahead an hour for the weekend, the biggest American bank failure since 2008 took place, as Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) - a bank used primarily for providing venture capital to start-up corporations, and the 16th largest bank in the country - became insolvent after many of its investors, reportedly led by fellow Silicon Valley investor Peter Thiel, withdrew its assets at such a rate that the FDIC took over the bank on Friday. Individual investors (thanks to the FDIC) will eventually be able to get up to $250,000 of its assets back (that's the insured rate for all of you who have accounts in those banks, y'all).

-The Federal Bank is now also sorting out the situation to see whether a buyer may step up to take control of the accounts SVB were servicing. Meanwhile, bank stocks generally plunged on Friday as the SVB crisis unfolded, while the price of gold went up - much of that being owned by ... oh, look, PETER THIEL! We're SURE there's NOTHING suspicious and PURELY coincidental about THAT! (ALLEGEDLY.)

-Speaking at the Gridiron Dinner with all recording devices banned from the event, former Vice President Mike Pence apparently made some of his most pointed comments he has ever made at Ex-President Trump over Trump's apparent "whatever" attitude to January 6, 2021 tourists that made loud requests to have Pence appear before them while dangling from a noose (this paraphrased from Tucker Carlson's attempt to repackage the insurrection of that day). At the Dinner, Pence again reiterated - correctly - that he "had no right" to flip electors on that day, and that "history will hold Donald Trump accountable" for the events of that day, events that Pence for the first time in semi-public that Trump's actions "endangered my family and everyone at the Capitol on that day."

-In addition to making these statements at a dinner without media present, it should also be noted that Pence continues to fight subpoenas for his under-oath testimony of what Trump told him on that day and in the days leading up to the insurrection, claiming that any comments made can be held secret as if they were part of a legislative debate - a question likely to be asked before the courts for an answer unless Pence changes his mind.

-Apparently knowing that the above comments would not sit well with a GOP electorate that, hilariously, Pence believes he can win over to become the 2024 Republican Presidential nominee himself, Pence also reportedly took time in that same Gridiron Dinner speech to make gratuitous and homophobic "jokes" against Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigeg, one of the newer focuses of right-wing media hate. In an apparent attempt to make "woke" a term of derision for 2024 (as "liberal" became in 1988 and "Vietnam veteran" became in 2004), Pence tried to get a laugh by referring to the parental leave Buttigeg took at the time he and his partner had twin girls from a surrogate as "maternity leave" for Pete. Buttigeg has emerged as one of President Biden's most effective Cabinet-level spokespeople, and also took some slack from observers at what the right wing has framed as a 'slow' federal response to the train accident and subsequent environmental crisis in OH.

-Also, Mike Pence will never be President of the United States of America.

-And, speaking of "woke," Fox News is in an apparent state of confusion after a recent poll found that the attempt by them and other right-wing media (and presumptive GOP leading Presidential candidate Ron DeSantis) to turn "woke" into a label worthy of shame is not working. 56% of respondents report that they do not believe being "woke" is a bad thing at all - and that it may be a GOOD label for people! In response, Fox commentator Brian Kilmeade theorized that the poll probably was skewed because people who "know the truth" about how evil and stupid and UnAmerican being "woke" is actually hung up the phone before they could get their opinions recorded by the polling outfit - in otherwords, taking a poll is proof of being "woke." Neener neener nanny boo boo ...

-It's Oscar Night! The 95th Academy Awards take place tonight, hopefully with less physical confrontation than last year's, and featuring performances by cool artists ranging from Beyonce to David Byrne. Jimmy Kimmel hosts the show.

-Ah, but if tonight is Oscar Night, that meant last night was Razzie Night! The 43rd Annual Golden Raspberry (hence "Razzie") Awards were given for what are deemed to be the WORST Hollywood releases and performances. This year's Razzies were 'dominated' by three movies: the Netflix Marilyn Monroe biopic BLONDE ('winner' of Worst Picture and Screenplay), the Marvel clunker MORBIUS (Jared Leto getting Worst Actor) and the still Oscar-nominated ELVIS (in which Tom Hanks was given the Worst Screen Combo for his horrible accent and makeup job while portraying Col. Tom Parker). The Razzies also pointed the finger at itself, giving itself a Worst award for having to rescind a nomination for bad acting it gave to a child actor that was on this year's list.

-Good luck with your Oscar pool!

-On this date in 1912, the first Girl Scout troop was formed (it was in GA). On this date in 1933, Franklin Roosevelt delivered his first "fireside chat" about his administration's response to the Great Depression. On this date in 1947, Harry Truman delivered a speech about the encroaching Communist threat in Europe, creating the "Truman Doctrine" of containing the threat that continued until the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Iron Curtain in 1989-91. And on this date in 2020, Broadway theatres and the National Hockey League shut down in response to the COVID-19 outbreak.

-Happy Birthday to Vaslav Nijinsky, Agathe Von Trapp, Leonard Chess, Gordon MacRae, Jack Kerouac, Lane Kirkland, Mae Young, Edward Albee, Andrew Young, Barbara Feldon, Eddie Sutton, Lloyd Dobbins, Johnny Rutherford, Al Jarreau, Liza Minelli, Jill O'Hara, Sen. Mitt Romney, James Taylor, Carl Hiaasen, Anish Kapoor, Dale Murphy, Marlon Jackson, Courtney B. Vance, Darryl Strawberry, Aaron Eckhart, Sen. Tammy Duckworth, and Jake Tapper.

-Rest in Peace/Rest in Power to George Westinghouse, Sun Yat-Sen, Charlie Parker, Frankie Frisch, drive-in bank inventor George D. Sax, John Cazale, Eugene Ormandy, Woody Hayes, Mac Speedie, Morton Downey, Jr., Howard Fast, Lynne Thigpen, Howard Metzenbaum, and Michael Graves.

-Feed the Worms: convicted war criminal Ratko Mladic and mobster Sammy "the Bull" Gravano entered Earth on this date.